One Piece Wano Arc has featured its first intense battle in the anime involving three members of the Worst Generation — Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro of the Straw Hat Pirates and Basil Hawkins of the Hawkins Pirates. Luffy and Zoro encountered Hawkins and his subordinates a few minutes after they reunited in the wasteland. Hawkins is currently serving under Emperor Kaido as one of the headliners of the Beast Pirates.

Despite Kinemon’s order, Luffy and Zoro were left with no choice but to fight Hawkins’s groups. After beating most of his subordinates, Luffy and Zoro prepared themselves to take down Hawkins next. However, as the fight started to get more serious, Komachiyo interfered and grabbed Luffy and Zoro. Komachiyo was worried about Otama’s worsening condition and wanted to bring her to the nearest hospital as soon as possible.

Hawkins and his subordinates wouldn’t let Luffy and Zoro escape that easily, though, especially considering they know that the Straw Hat Pirates are planning to free the Land of Wano from Emperor Kaido and the Beast Pirates. Based on the preview, One Piece Episode 899 — which is titled “Defeat is Inevitable! The Strawman’s Fierce Attack!” — is set to feature Hawkins’s pursuit of Luffy and Zoro.

“When Otama and Luffy end up in a deadly crisis, Zoro’s avenging slash howls!”

In the preview for One Piece Episode 899, Luffy and Zoro were being chased by the giant straw man created by Hawkins’s devil fruit power while riding Komachiyo. Luffy protected Otama while Zoro dealt with the giant straw man. The giant straw man was incredibly powerful and used a giant club as a weapon.

After witnessing his opponent’s power, Zoro decided to take the fight more seriously. One Piece Episode 899 preview showed Zoro attacking the giant straw man with his famous sword, Shusui. While fighting the giant straw man, Zoro gained more muscles and his eyes signaled a tremendous improvement with his Observation Haki. This is expected to give Zoro a great advantage in terms of offense and defense.

Having bigger arm muscles will enable Zoro to unleash more powerful slash, which could be enough to take down Hawkins’s giant straw man, while a stronger Observation Haki will allow him to easily dodge the enemy’s attacks. One Piece Episode 899 will likely feature the conclusion of the battle between Zoro and the giant straw man. Once the giant straw man is defeated, Hawkins could use his cards once again to know if they should continue chasing the Straw Hat Pirates or not.